The Cost of being a Disciple of Christ- Matthew 14:28 - 33
To follow Christ truly, we must consider the cost. Jesus first lays out, the costs of discipleship (14:26-27); then, He gives two parables (14:28-32) that make the same overall point, namely, that a person must give careful consideration to the cost before he rashly jumps into it. Then He states a third cost of discipleship (14:33). He then (14:34-35) gives an illustration about salt to illustrate the cost of not truly following Him. He concludes by warning, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Before we look at the costs that Jesus spells out, think with me for a moment about the phrases, “sit down and calculate the cost,” referring to the man building the tower (14:28); and, “sit down and take counsel,” referring to the king considering going to war (14:31). Both refer to careful, detailed, rational thinking in which you consider all aspects of what you’re getting into before you make the commitment. Such careful thinking is opposed to quick decision made in a moment of intense emotion, without much thought about the consequences. Our evangelistic methods today are big on emotion and little on reason. “Trust in Jesus Kind of Faith and everything will be okay”
We get people into crusades to hear testimonies from famous evangelist or preachers about how Christ changed their lives. Then they hear a eloquent speaker promise how Christ can meet the person’s every need. Then the invitation is given and counselors are primed to get out of their seats and walk forward so that people on the verge of a decision think that others are going forward. The choir or band is playing a song of invitation. Going forward feels like the right thing to do. In a swell of emotion, the person gets out of his seat and “decides for Christ.”
But did the person get saved? By God’s grace, some do. But even the well-known evangelists admit that the long-term “stick with it” rate for those who make a decision is only about 10-15 percent. All too often, their decision was based more on emotion than on careful thought about what it means to follow Christ.
Here, Jesus says to the crowds who were interested enough to be going along with Him “Consider the cost of following me. We must consider the cost of following Christ. Jesus spells out three costs: (1) we must hate our families and ourselves (14:26). We must carry our own cross 14:27 and, we must give up all our possession 14:33.
Whoa! Doesn’t the Bible say that we are to love our families? Doesn’t it say that no man ever hated his own flesh? Is Jesus contradicting the Bible? Of course not! But He puts it in these terms for shock value, to get us to stop and think about the stringent demand that He is making. He means that our allegiance and love for Him must be so great that by comparison our love for our families and even for our own lives looks like hatred.
Normally, there is no conflict between loving Christ and our family members also. But sometimes a tug of war develops, where a family member puts pressure on us to back off from or even abandon our love for Christ. In those difficult situations, we do not love either Christ or the family member if we accede to the pressure. We do not love the family member, because if we bow to the pressure, we are saying that Christ is not worthy of being followed above all others, and we keep the family member from seriously considering the claims of Christ.
We do not love Christ because we have put a sinful human being, who did not give himself for our sins, in a higher place than the spotless Lamb of God who freely offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins. In his book “The Cost of Discipleship” Dietrich Bonheoffer says that “Grace is not cheap, if it were cheap it would be sold in market.” Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man’ will gladly go and self all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him. Following Christ is that costly if we are truly his disciples
Whoever Welcomes You, Welcomes Me- David Wiggs
Recently I was sent this story. The author said, I saw him in the church building for the first time on Wednesday. He was in his mid-70’s with thinning silver hair and a neat brown suit. Many times in the past I had invited him to come. Several other Christian friends had talked to him about the Lord and had tried to share the good news with him. He was well respected, honest, a man of good character. He acted much like a Christian would act, but he never came to church or professed Christ. After I got to know him well and we had talked about a wide range of subjects I asked him if he had ever been to a church service.
He hesitated. Then with a twisted grimace told me of an experience he had as a boy. He was raised in a large family. His parents survived the depression but they struggled to provide food and clothing for the family. When he was around ten years old a friend invited him to go to church with his family.
He went – the Sunday School class was great. The songs were fun to sing and the stories, oh the great Bible stories, were exciting to hear. He had never heard anyone read from the Bible before. As class ended the teacher pulled him aside and said, “Son, please don’t come again dressed as you are now. We want to look our best when we come into God’s house.”
He looked down at his old hand me down overalls that were certainly worn and tattered. He thought about that for a moment and said softly, “No ma’am I won’t ever.” Then he looked at me, the author wrote and said, “And you know what… I never did.” It was clear that he was done with that conversation.
The author reflected, I am sure that the Sunday School teacher meant well and in fact was representing the feeling of the majority of the folks in that church. But what if, what if she had put her arms around the dirty little boy in the ragged overalls and said, “Son, I am thrilled that you came this morning and I hope you will come every chance you get to hear more about Jesus because he loves you so much.” Moreover what if she would have talked with her pastor or her friends in the church and mobilized a full blown outreach effort to help this family make ends meet.
What if that church would have thought, Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Or whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple will receive a great reward (v. 40 & 42)
The story ended like this: Yes I saw him in the church house for the first time on Wednesday and I cried as I looked at the immaculately dressed old gentleman lying there in his casket. He was looking his best. But all I could think of were those words of an impressionable little ten-year-old boy echoing in my mind, “No ma’am I won’t ever.”
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